New Harbour Stores’ Keeper—Mr. N. F. Woolmer.
Chester and Holyhead Steam Packet Office.—Superintendent—Capt. Hirst.
BANKS.
North and South Wales Bank, Stanley-street (draws on the London and Westminster Bank)—Mr. Robert Roberts, Manager.
National Provincial Bank (Branch), Boston-street (draws on Hanbury, Taylors, and Lloyd, London)—Mr. Edward Hughes, Manager.
ANCIENT CUSTOMS.—EGG TAKING, FROM THE CLIFFS OF HOLYHEAD.
The eggs of many of the birds named in another page were formerly sought after as delicious food, and considered as a great treat to the epicurean. The price procured for them was a sufficient inducement for the poor to follow the adventurous trade of egg-taking; but in this, as in the pearl fishery on the coasts of Persia, the gains bear no tolerable proportion to the danger incurred. Until the dangerous practice was prohibited, men were employed in collecting them in the following manner. The adventurers having furnished themselves with every necessary implement for the business, while the sun afforded assistance by his beams, entered on the terrific undertaking. Two—for this was a trade in which co-partnership was absolutely necessary—took a station; and he whose turn it happened to be, or whose superior agility rendered it eligible, prepared for the rupestrian expedition. A strong stake was driven into the ground, at some distance from the edge of the cliff, to which a rope, of sufficient length to reach the lowest haunts of the birds, was affixed. Fastening the other end round his middle, taking the coil on his arm, and laying hold with both his hands, he threw himself over the brow of the cliff, placing his feet against its sides, and carefully shifting his hands, he gradually descended till he came to the abode of the birds; then putting his hand into the hole, while suspending himself with the other, he took possession of its contents, carefully placing the eggs in a basket slung at his back for the purpose. Having despoiled all the nests within his extent of rope, he ascended by the same means to the edge of the cliff, where his partner, whose duty hitherto was to guard the stake, crawling on hands and knees, afforded him assistance in doubling the cliff, which otherwise he would be unable to do. Dangerous occupation! A slip of the foot, or the hand, would in an instant be fatal to both. Instances have occurred where the weight of the one overcoming the strength of the other, both have been precipitated down the craggy steep, and their mangled carcases buried in the ocean.
To a stranger and bystander, this occupation appeared more dangerous than it really was; in persons habituated to bodily difficulty, the nervous system became gradually braced, and the solids attained that state of rigidity which banished irritability; while the mind, accustomed to scenes of danger, lost that timidity which frequently led to the dreadful disaster. To the person whose heart palpitates at the near approach to such heights, it must appear a presumptuous venture, and daily instances of its fatality might be expected; but facts demonstrate the contrary, and serve to prove how much we are the creatures of habit, and to what an extent difficulty and danger may be made subordinate to art and perseverance. A sight of this perilous employment would remind the beholder of that fine description—
— How fearful
And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs, that wing the midnight air,
Shew scarce so gross as beetles. Half-way down
Hangs one who gathers samphire;—dreadful trade.